New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Exhorting chief ministers to revamp past security practices and brace themselves to prepare for new age terror, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that intelligence agencies had warned of more terrorist attacks, possibly on economic and religious targets, as well as on nuclear installations.

Singh's grim forewarning comes nearly two months after a series of bombs on commuter trains in Mumbai, India's financial hub, that killed 186 people.

During the address to the conclave, the second in five months, Manmohan Singh also cautioned chief ministers on the threats to internal security from terrorism and Maoism that had engulfed huge swathes of the country and which was spreading to other states.

"Intelligence agencies warn of a further intensification of violent activities with the possibility of more fidayeen attacks, use of suicide bombers, attacks on economic and religious targets, targeting of vital installations, including nuclear establishments and army camps."

"Reports also suggest that terrorist modules and sleeper cells exist in some of our urban areas, all of which highlight the seriousness of the threat."

"Concern about the increasing activities of externally inspired and directed terrorist outfits in the country is justified," Singh told the internal security meeting.

Almost as a reaction to Singh's grim observations, home minister Shivraj Patil immediately announced a sum of Rs 9 billion for shoring up security in all coastal states with Rs 5 million earmarked specially for Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Singh also cautioned the chief ministers against unfairly targeting the Muslim community while the security agencies came down heavily in the fight against terror.

This, he stressed, was imperative to offset a sense of alienation among India's roughly 140 million minority Muslims and ensure that efforts to stamp out Islamist militancy do not victimise the entire community.

"It is unfortunate that terrorism has resulted in certain sections of our population being targeted, with the result that a wrong impression has been created of the radicalisation of the entire Muslim community," the prime minister noted.

"It is, hence, imperative that we embark immediately upon a proactive policy to ensure that a few individual acts do not result in tarnishing the image of an entire community, and remove any feelings of persecution and alienation from the minds of the minorities."

Bemoaning that not enough was done to fill up vacancies in the police forces, Singh said states needed to bring "beat constables" into the fold to help in pre-empting militant attacks.

He also pointed to the need for improving the quality of state Special Branches and toning up the law and order administration.

Addressing the press at the end of the day's deliberations, Patil announced that police and beat constables would be roped into the intelligence wing as well as improve on the working ratio between the police and public. Currently, there are a mere 12,700 police stations in 850,000 cities and villages.

Tuesday's conference was primarily aimed to discuss and fine-tune security strategies to tackle terrorism and insurgencies across the country as well as improve coordination between New Delhi and the states.

Dwelling on the Maoist rebellion in the country that he described as the single biggest internal security challenge faced by the country, Manmohan Singh pointed out that the strategy to counter it would have to be based on an effective response and a focus on reducing underdevelopment.

The Andhra Pradesh government came up for praise for deploying the specialist Greyhounds force on anti-Maoist operations and Singh exhorted other affected states to take in hand what deliverables were possible even while preparing to meet the challenge through effective law and order measures.

Besides terrorism, the meeting also discussed the insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir where Singh said the overall security situation had shown signs improvement in the past two years but it was necessary for New Delhi to maintain its guard.

"We should remain on our guard in view of continuing efforts by anti-India and antinational elements to whip up emotions and transform these into a violent movement."

For the last two months, India has been on a heightened security alert, with fears of more attacks across the country, particularly in New Delhi and Mumbai, and at airports after a US embassy warning on Independence Day.